]]>
Fun Stuff 2011
tag:goodexperience.com,2012://7.167812012-03-16T01:15:19Z2012-03-16T01:59:19ZMark Hurst
Here's my annual roundup of all the Fun Stuff items I linked to in the email newsletter in the past year.

Start the video 38 seconds in: watch "Dot Dot Dot", a dramatization of an online user review. (And the game featured in that review - "Super PSTW Action RPG" - is itself great. Find it on the games list.)

Gravy and Toast, the new song by Gel 2011 composer Andrew Huang, who just celebrated 7 years of his Songs To Wear Pants To project, writing songs from often bizarre suggestions by viewers. (See also his Gel 2007 performance.)

Gotta hand it to our friend Charlie Todd for another outstanding Improv Everywhere mission: Carousel Horse Race. (Charlie's contribution to the recent Gel conference was Gotta Share, now over a million views.)

My favorite source of "the average color of the New York City sky, updated every 5 minutes" has got to be nskyc.com.

I really hope this "happy hot dog" is a hoax.. or some cookouts this weekend will be really strange.

24 hours of the (Star Trek) Enterprise engine noise: for when nothing else is on.

]]>
Kirby Ferguson finishes Everything Is A Remix
tag:goodexperience.com,2012://7.167802012-02-24T19:07:33Z2012-02-24T19:19:01ZMark Hurst
Gel 2011 speaker Kirby Ferguson (here's his Gel video) has posted his fourth and final episode of Everything Is A Remix. This four-part series on creativity is a small masterpiece of writing, editing, and yes, remixing - and the final episode makes a strong case for getting back to the common good. Highly recommended: watch it!

Kirby's new venture is a Kickstarter project called This Is Not A Conspiracy Theory, which he describes as "a multi-part series that will explain the major ideas, events and human quirks that have shaped where we are right now politically." I'm a proud backer of the project.

P.S. For more on copyright and patent issues, required listening is the recent This American Life episode (hosted by Gel 2007 speaker Ira Glass) called When Patents Attack:

]]>
Getting creativity flowing with Noah Scalin's "Unstuck"
tag:goodexperience.com,2012://7.167782012-02-13T21:18:56Z2012-02-24T19:47:36ZMark Hurst
Any recent Gel attendee knows Noah Scalin, the designer and creator of the Skull-A-Day project (see the video). I was happy to be included in Noah's new book, Unstuck: 52 Ways to Get (and Keep) Your Creativity Flowing at Home, at Work & in Your Studio, distilling many lessons from his creativity workshops that Gel attendees have loved for years.

The book is full of assignments you can take on to get "unstuck" in any project you're working on - often in the form of two-minute assignments.

My favorite section is "Creativity vs. the Inbox," pages 186-187. (Just zero the inbox!) But that's just one of many ideas for getting unstuck. Suggested assignments range from multi-hour projects to actions taking just 30 seconds. Example: write down columns of adjectives describing each of the themes you're working with. Now mix-and-match across columns - you're literally forcing lateral thinking.

You can buy "Unstuck" from the Amazon link above, or from your local indie. Let me know what you create!

I was at a conference where the construction and development team responsible for putting together and constructing the new Minnesota Twins baseball stadium gave a detailed presentation on the project. One of the first things they mentioned is that they required their entire management team to read "Bit Literacy" prior to starting the project so they could come up with a communication system via email and task list tracking system that was fast, efficient, and effective. There was no room for time wasting procedures and methods. The new stadium project was one of the more complicated professional sports stadium constructed in recent history.

]]>
]]>
New Gel Video: Michelle Barwell
tag:gelconference.com,2012:/videos//15.167722012-01-25T15:08:52Z2012-01-25T15:09:49ZMark Hurst
As a psychiatrist for Operation Safety Net in Pittsburgh, Dr. Michelle Barwell delivers mental health care to the homeless - where they live. Here she describes how she goes about this highly unusual and courageous work.]]>
]]>
New Gel Video: James Chan
tag:gelconference.com,2012:/videos//15.167702012-01-25T15:05:15Z2012-01-25T15:10:44ZMark Hurst
Native Singaporean, venture capitalist, and photographer James Chan has seen a tremendous transformation of that city-state as it grew into its present-day success. Here he describes some of the policies that set Singapore apart - and could help other cities succeed.]]>
]]>
New Gel Video: Howard Warren
tag:gelconference.com,2012:/videos//15.167692012-01-25T15:02:59Z2012-01-25T19:15:49ZMark Hurst
Science teacher and explorer Howard Warren describes a unique archaeological treasure within New York City: Dead Horse Bay, an abandoned beach filled with artifacts from a particular moment in the 20th century.]]>
]]>
Top sites' designs for anti-SOPA blackout
tag:goodexperience.com,2012://7.167682012-01-18T13:44:30Z2012-02-24T19:47:01ZMark Hurst
A few top sites are showing their feelings about SOPA, the bill in Congress that would dramatically hurt innovation online:

]]>
Zappos doesn't mention its security breach
tag:goodexperience.com,2012://7.167672012-01-17T20:02:55Z2012-02-24T19:47:08ZMark Hurst
Last year Netflix got in a heap of trouble by botching its communications with customers around their price increase. Much press was devoted to discussing how companies should be upfront and clear with customers about what happened.

Now Zappos is facing its own crisis: a site-wide security breach that compromised the passwords of all its customers. What has Zappos learned from the Netflix debacle?

Today, Tuesday January 17, is the first business day after the breach. Here is the Zappos homepage, with not a single mention of the security breach:

And here is the blog. Apparently the "ultimate t-shirt design contest" is pretty important because it gets top billing, while the security breach doesn't get a single mention.

No mention in the customer service center, no mention on the "Create a New Password" page, no mention anywhere I can find on the site.

Is it just me, or shouldn't a major breach of customer information be mentioned somewhere on the site?

My response: "thanks. how can i get to that page from the zappos homepage or your blog (where the t-shirt design contest is now shown)?"

Zappos responded: "Searching 'security' on our website will bring you to a page with the link to that page."

I still find it strange. Yes, an email explaining the situation went out to customers. And a blog post went up for employees. But what if someone wasn't a customer; was there any way for them to find out what happened? (Other than somehow knowing to type "security" in the search form?)

This isn't an insignificant question. As more of our information gets posted to the cloud, these security breaches will become more common - and there should be some better-defined practices for companies to notify customers about what happened. Posting things clearly on the homepage and/or a blog page would be a good place to start.

]]>
Using what you have (and when to change)
tag:goodexperience.com,2011://7.167582011-12-22T18:03:55Z2011-12-22T20:19:57ZMark Hurst
Some friends came by my office recently and commented on my monitor, a 10-or-so year-old Samsung SyncMaster, shown below in the photo of my desk:

I hadn't thought much of the monitor for years, since it just - works. When I'm looking at the screen, I'm thinking about the bits flying around inside, not the plastic chassis holding the screen.

My friends were amazed that a "technology guru" would be using such an old piece of equipment. And it's true, this monitor is old enough that it's almost retro-cool at this point. But I'm using it with no irony - the thing works!

That got me to thinking: there's a particular pleasure to using what you have, without having to change. I suppose I'll get a newer monitor at some point, whenever this one dies, but in the meantime I'm happy to have a piece of equipment that I don't have to think about much. That's the point of technology, isn't it? To be a tool that we can use for some purpose, without having to think about the tool itself.

Of course this runs counter to the dominant theme of the technology industry - buy more, and buy often. Count this "guru" as caring less about what's new and more about what works. (If it happens to be new and works better than what came before, then I'll be the first to add my praise.)

The photo above shows another way of working with what you have: not just working with it but turning it into a strength. The "B" sign on the left shows the New York City health rating, which every restaurant is required to display in their entrance. This particular restaurant got a "B" - a middling rating that restaurant owners aren't too happy to receive.

You can see what the restaurant did: they copied the same font, size, style, and color of the "B" rating into two more pages, showing an "A" and an "R". And there you have the most creative sign for a BAR in New York City.

Finally, there are some cases when it's not enough to work with what you have - it's time to change. Take a look at the photo below, of my local post office's kiosk where I was trying to buy stamps:

I read and re-read this menu of options: where are the regular stamps? I've bought from this kiosk before, and there's always something called "stamps." The only mention of stamps here is to buy one of "different value" (which had me thinking, different from what?).. I didn't want Express Mail, or some holiday baubles (whatever those are - Christmas tree ornaments, perhaps?), or Priority Mail, or "different value."

My best guess was the 1st class stamp, which mentioned that it could go international as well. Turns out that was too expensive, around a dollar.

It took me some time but I finally figured out where the normal stamps were hiding out. I can't be the only customer who was confused (though perhaps you figured it out already). It's obvious that the postal service should make some changes here.

Here's to a 2012 knowing when to hold on to what we have, when to use it creatively, and when we really should make a change. Happy holidays!

]]>
Quiz: are you good at customer experience work?
tag:goodexperience.com,2011://7.167552011-12-14T19:19:22Z2011-12-14T21:01:29ZMark Hurst
Here's a two-question quiz to find out if you're suited to do customer experience work. During a recent visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art here in New York, I came across an unusual installation: as shown in the photo below, a park bench, painted black, sits mostly empty except for three white plaster figures.

As we entered the room with this installation, our tour guide reminded all of us not to sit down on the bench. "You'd be surprised," she said, "at how often people sit down there and an alarm goes off. Happens all the time."

Walking closer to the bench, I noticed the sign shown in the photo below. It reads: PLEASE DO NOT TOUCH.

I immediately told the tour guide why museum visitors continually sat down on the bench.

Now you're ready for the quiz!

Question 1: Why do so many people sit down on the bench? (Are they careless, malicious, or just too tired to stand? Or is something else at work?)

Question 2: What would be one way to address the problem?

When you have your answers, check my answers (what I said to the tour guide). Feel free to post your answer in the comments below - perhaps you have an even better solution.

This is the sort of quiz I would give anyone applying for a job in customer experience. Consider what it requires to create a solution:

• empathy: being able to see the scene from the visitor's perspective is the most important skill in the process. And it's hard to do - even for the staff of a world-class museum!

• analysis: noting the many different things at work in the scene: context (museum), object (figures and bench), instructions (sign), and subtle cues of position (sign's placement almost directly in front of the first figure people see).

• synthesis: putting it all together to figure out why the problem is occurring, and what the solution might be, is a rare skill.

Note that the quiz doesn't ask you to "list the popular methods you know how to use," or to "define how 'interaction design' is different from 'user experience.'" The skills of empathy, analysis, and synthesis are essential in solving customer experience problems. That's what I look for when hiring someone new.

It's also what you should look for when asking someone to work on your customer experience. (Contact us at Creative Good if we can help.)